1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle pedal displacement control structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have conventionally been considered various structures as a countermeasure taken when an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied to the front of a vehicle. As an example of this kind of countermeasures, there can be mentioned a structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 1-73464.
In brief, as shown in FIG. 5, in the structure disclosed in the above publication, a steering column 402 which surrounds a steering shaft 400 passes through between a tilt bracket 408 having an upper plate member 404 and a pair of side plate members 406, and these side plate members 406, and is supported at the side of a vehicle body by a shaft 410 which supports the lower edge of the steering column 402.
Further, a knee protector 412 having a substantially circular arc shape and provided to be elastically deformable is disposed at the lower side of the above-described tilt bracket 408. The knee protector 412 is elastically supported at the side of the lower edge of the steering column 402 via an elastically deformable stay 414.
According to the above-described structure, when an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied to the front of the vehicle, a vehicle occupant (i.e., a driver) is about to move inertially toward the front of the vehicle, and accompanied therewith, the legs of the driver are forced to move inertially in the same direction while bending, with the knees as the starting points. For this reason, in the case in which no knee protector 412 is provided, the driver's knees may contact the tilt bracket 408. However, so long as the knee protector 412 is disposed below the tilt bracket 408 as described above, the driver's knees merely contact the knee protector 412.
It seems that the structure having such a knee protector 412 is useful as a countermeasure taken when an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied to the front of the vehicle. However, it is possible to approach from another point of view as the above countermeasure in relation to the driver's legs, and further, it is important to establish the countermeasure multilaterally in relation to the driver's legs from the view point of multi-protection.
As a result of repetition of experiments conducted based on such a point of view, the present inventors have come to a conclusion that control of displacement of a vehicle pedal such as a brake pedal in view of deformation of a body panel and the like, and behaviors against the deformation when an external force of a predetermined value or greater is applied to the front of the vehicle be established as a quite effective countermeasure.